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Texas fabricator expands with second site

WHITESBORO, Texas - A family-run sprinkler fabricator here has bought the equipment assets of another Texas company and is using that location to broaden its geographic reach and physical space.

Texas Manufacturing Co., which has been fabricating sprinkler pipe for local sprinkler contractors since 1985, bought the equipment of Hitech Fabrication in Houston. Now, Hitech's approximately 18 employees work in the same fabrication shop under the Texas Manufacturing name. The company also manufactures and markets a line of fittings, branded TexLine, to distributors nationwide, including Victaulic Fire Protection, Hughes Supply and Anvil International.

The new Houston location, which opened under its new name earlier this fall, marks Texas Manufacturing's second location since its inception in 1959 and its only acquisition, said Rick Streetman, who han-dles fabrication sales for the company. The 200,000-square-foot location, about 300 miles from the main office here, will serve as a satellite facility for the company.

"It was an opportunity," Streetman said, "which just kind of arose and was not something we were looking for."

Streetman said he has no idea what impact the second location will have on company sales, which last year were between $8 million and $10 million. The fabrication business, which will also take place at the new location in Houston, comprises about 80 percent of Texas Manufacturing's sales.

"Since 1990 we have just about doubled our sales every year except for the last two years, and we basically grew until we finally got to this point," Streetman said.

The company's main location, with three separate buildings, gives the company about 40,000 square feet and a central location to service Dallas-Fort Worth and most of north Texas. The company also has completed projects in New York state and in Michigan.

"Eventually we'll have to move out of (the new) building because it's way too big," Street-man said.